Senior Lecturer in Public Policy

Profile

Paul joined the School in September 2012 having previously been a Hallsworth Research Fellow of Political Economy at the University of Manchester (2009-2012). Prior to this he completed his BA, MA (RES) and PhD all at the University of Manchester. He has also worked as an English language teacher in both the Czech Republic and South Korea. Between 2015-2018 he was elected as a committee member of the Academic Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES). He was the founding director of QMUL’s Centre for European Research, which hosted the 2016 UACES Annual Conference and established EU studies within the Faculty.

Paul’s research and teaching focuses on the political economy of European integration, particularly with respect to the EU’s competence in employment and social policy. He also specialises in the UK’s relationship with the EU, Brexit, and the role of the British media in this relationship. In 2019 he was awarded one of QMUL’s Education Excellence Awards in recognition of his co-creative approach to teaching. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

He is regularly invited to provide expert opinion on these matters by the House of Lords, the European Parliament, the European Commission, and a wide range of media outlets. He has also provided consultancy work for Oxfam and the World Health Organization. He is often invited to provide both live and pre-recorded comment and opinion to broadcasting media outlets including: BBC; France 24; RTE; Public Radio International; Sveriges Television; Hrvatska Radiotelevizija. He has written blogs and articles for the Conversation, Policy Network, the Mile End Institute, and UK in a Changing Europe to name but a few.

S. James and P. Copeland (2014) ‘New modes of Governance and the Intergovernmental Empowerment of the European Council’ Perspectives on European Politics and Societies 15 (4): 518-535.

P. Copeland and S. James (2014) ‘Policy Windows, Ambiguity and Commission Entrepreneurship: Explaining the Re-Launch of the European Union’s Economic Reform Agenda’, Journal of European Public Policy 21 (1): 1-19.

P. Copeland (2010) ‘EU Enlargement, the European Social Dimension and the Clash of Capitalisms’ CIP Working Paper Series, University of Manchester. Revised version published in Comparative European Politics.

P. Copeland (2009) ‘IPE and European Integration: Applying Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation’ No. 39. IPEG Working Papers in Global Political Economy.

Supervision

I welcome PhD proposals in the following broad areas:

EU and member state employment and labour policy;

The political economy of European integration;

EU policy negotiations

EU governance

Britain and the EU

The relationship between media and politics

Current PhD Student(s)

Lorenza Madonna (2018-present) ‘A Critical Assessment of the Impact of Neo-Liberalism on Pan European Integration’

Previous PhD students

Tony McNaulty (2019) ‘Tales from the Riverbank: The art of government, policy-making, and politics – an insider’s view’.